Gottlieb Burian's gravestone at Lakeview Cemetery.

Story by Scott Schaefer
Photos Courtesy Highline Historical Society

The Highline Historical Society has posted a very interesting article written by Earl F. Charvet (from research by Charles L. Thiesenhusen) on its website that sets the record straight about Gottlieb Burian, the man Burien was named after.

Previously, most B-Towners thought that our city was named after some funny-looking old dude called Gottlieb Von Boorian.

Wrong.

Recently-uncovered documents show that his name was just plain ol’ Gottlieb Burian, sometimes spelled with two ‘r’s', as in ‘Burrian.’

Some other historical info that has been corrected:

• Gottlieb Burian is sometimes mistakenly thought of as the first settler in this area. Others credit a guy named Mike (not Mick) Kelly. Wrong – that honor goes to George Ouellet (just think, Burien should’ve been named Ouelletville!).
• There is no evidence that Gottlieb Burian descended from a noble Prussian family or that family members spelled their name in any way other than “Burian.” Naturalization papers, state legal records, contemporary newspaper accounts, city directories, marriage records of his children, and the family’s grave markers at Lake View Cemetery all show the name spelled “Burian.”
• If Gottlieb was referred to as “Von Boorian” during his life, it may have been a self applied honorific or a tribute by his friends at the Turnverein and the Sons of Hermann Lodge. Another possible explanation for the Von Boorian myth may be that it arose from the notoriety of Austro-Hungarian foreign minister Stephan Burian von Rajecz, called “Baron von Burian” in newspaper headlines during the early years of World War I.

Here’s an excerpt from the story (read the full article here):

In the 1880s, the area ten miles south of Seattle called Sunnydale (now Burien) was densely forested by tall Douglas firs and hemlocks, and mostly unsettled. Land patents for homestead sites were still available for purchase directly from the Federal government. The first record of the Burians residing in Sunnydale appears in March 1885,29 which confirms family accounts stating they arrived in Sunnydale in “about 1884.”30 However, Gottlieb Burian did not purchase his 120 acre homestead in Sunnydale from the Federal land office until about five years later, on 31 August 1889.31 This parcel of land (in Township 23 North, Range 4 East, Section 19; around today’s 12th Avenue SW and SW 156th Street) was handsomely sited on the southeast corner of a lake, later named Lake Burien in his honor.

Evidence from city directories and census records prove that the Burian family maintained two primary residences. The house on the lake served as a home where they raised their children and was a comfortable retreat from city life.32 33 A photo taken about 1893 shows Gottlieb and Emma dressed simply in black on the steps of Sunnydale School, clearly in a place of honor, surrounded by school girls in white dresses with women wearing their finest hats and men in starched collars and ties.34 The occasion is unknown, but it is obvious they were highly respected citizens in the community. Their city home at 1716 Spring Place on Capitol Hill, one block away from Minor Park, was not far from the center of Seattle’s commercial hub, its social events, and Gottlieb’s places of business.35 A few years before Gottlieb’s death, they sold this house and moved seven blocks west to another home at 1020 Spring Place, where Virginia Mason Hospital stands today.36

Gottlieb Burian is sometimes mistakenly thought of as the first settler in the city of Burien area. However, this honor belongs to George Ouellet (variously spelled as Oullet, Ouellette, Oulett, Oulet, etc.), a French-Canadian immigrant born in Sainte-Marie de Beauce, south of Quebec City in 1837.37. Ouellet purchased the first of his several Federal land patents in the area in 1864, fully twenty-five years before Burian bought any land.38 39

Late in life, Gottlieb and Emma retired at their downtown Seattle home. When a census taker arrived in June 1900 and interviewed Gottlieb at age 63, he amusingly gave his profession as “shoemaker.”

Gottlieb Burien and friends, from a photo taken on the steps of the Sunnydale School (circa 1893) at a community gathering. Photo courtesy Highline Historical Society.

Don’t forget – you can help the historical society preserve our area’s history by donating online here.

1932 Highline High School Championship basketball team. Photo courtesy Highline Historical Society.

The Highline Historical Society is inviting the public to a free program celebrating memories of sports teams in the Highline area from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 20th at SeaTac City Hall.

Retired Tyee varsity baseball coach Walt Edmiston will be on a special guest panel that also will include Kaija Lietuvietis (who taught PE at both Highline and Tyee High Schools and coached girls swimming at Tyee), Phyllis Mitchell (who has written extensively about church league basketball in the Highline area), and Gordie Shaw (who was involved with Highline Little League). The program will be moderated by former Highline School District Superintendent Kent Matheson.

Former players, coaches, and fans are warmly welcomed to come ask questions of the panelists, and share their own memories and memorabilia.

The program will take place Sunday, November 20, from 2 p.m. – 4 p.m. at SeaTac City Hall, located at 4800 S 188th Street in SeaTac.

A short annual meeting will precede the program.

For more information on the Highline Historical Society and its activities, visit www.highlinehistory.org.

“Have you wanted to walk the Indian trails in Three Tree Point but were not sure where to go?” reads a press release. “Join a guided walk along the trails with Pam Harper, co-author of ‘Three Tree Point.’ Pam and Guy Harper’s families have been residents of Three Tree Point for generations, and have an intimate knowledge of the history, culture and lifestyles of the people who have lived there. The book they wrote with Doug Shadel offers a history of family life, unusual characters, shipwrecks, fishing derbies, water sports and storytelling.”

Here are the details:

WHAT: Walk the Indian Trails in Three Tree Point with local expert Pam Harper.

WHEN: Saturday, Sept. 17th starting at 10:00 am.

WHERE: Meet/park along SW 31st Street, between 167th Pl SW and 169th Place SW.

INFO: Meet at the corner of SW 31st St and 167th Pl SW at 10:00 am.  From there it’s a short walk down to the top of the public stairs (there’s no room to park by the stairs).  Two trails combine in a 3-mile loop trail with a maximum elevation of 339 feet at the starting point.

The Highline Historical Society (we’re members – join here) is seeking area residents to share their memories of the 9/11 tragedy on the weekend of Sept. 10th and 11th.

They’ll be videotaping short oral histories at two events – here’s more from an email we received:

In remembrance of the events of 9/11/2001, the Highline Historical Society will be videotaping short oral histories of first responders and the general public at two events on the weekend of September 10 – 11:

• Saturday, September 10: the Historical Society will be at the Burien Fire Station, 15100 8th Avenue SW in Burien, from 10 AM to Noon.
• Sunday, September 11: the Society will be at the SeaTac Fire Station, 2929 S 200th Street in SeaTac, from 1 – 3 PM.

People who wish to share their memories of where they were a decade ago and how they reacted when they heard about the airliners that had been flown into the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon are invited to stop by and be videotaped.

These memories will then become a permanent part of the Highline Historical Society’s collections.

For more information on the Highline Historical Society and its activities, visit www.highlinehistory.org.

A segment of the original Des Moines to Seattle Brick Boulevard was exposed by road crews last weekend. Click image to see larger version. Photo by Carmen Scott.

[EDITOR'S NOTE: From our sister site The Waterland Blog comes this interesting story on a piece of history that was uncovered by grinding work being done in Des Moines this last weekend:]

This last weekend, at the intersection of 216th Street and Marine View Drive, road crews doing grinding work uncovered a piece of Des Moines History – a segment of the original Des Moines to Seattle Brick Boulevard.

According to the Des Moines Historical Society, from the founding of Des Moines in the 1880s until 1916, almost all local travel was by foot, or horse and buggy. If you wanted to go to Seattle, you went to the dock at the foot of 227th Street, or the one in Zenith at 240th Street and boarded the Dart, or Daring, or Defiance or Dove, or another of the many steamboats that provided transportation on Puget Sound.

However, the advent of paved roads spelled the beginning of the end for the Mosquito Fleet era.

In the summer of 1916, all the motorized vehicles from miles around gathered on 227th Street in Des Moines to celebrate the opening of our first paved (with bricks) highway to Seattle.

By the 1930s, downtown Des Moines had begun to move its original main street away from 6th Ave. South, onto the brick road, which was later paved over with blacktop, and renamed Marine View Drive.

Del’s Service station was built in 1939 at 225th Street, and later served the community for decades as Butlers Garage, and more recently as Butlers Bar & Grill, and currently as The Scotch & Vine.

The portion of the brick road continuing north beyond Des Moines Creek and the flagpole became Des Moines Way, then later Des Moines Memorial Drive, and continues to serve surrounding communities more than 100 years after its beginnings as a pioneer footpath through the forest.

The Waterland Blog would like to thank Carmen Scott, who took the color photo of the exposed bricks, and compiled information gleaned from DMHS and Mosquito Fleet history books and old (1916) newspaper clippings.

This week has been a blur. Memorial Day on Monday, Mariner game on Tuesday, and every spare minute in between those days and right now have been spent stuck in the family tree. Not a literal tree, because my arthritic knee won’t allow it. But the figurative tree that is envisioned in the mind’s eye, and looks like the reverse of the NBA playoff bracket.

Thanks to a wild hair, and the encouragement of husband and youngest daughter, I signed up for Ancestry.com. This was my first mistake. I knew my parents’ birth dates and places, and their parents’ names, and for the all-knowing oracle of Ancestry.com, that info was more than enough. What I didn’t know was what was about to happen to me. After I entered my info, I was delighted to see a little leaf waving at me. Just to the left of my grandfather’s name it was taunting me with ‘You’ve got a hint.’ Beckoning like a siren song, it invited me to climb further up the tree. That was my second mistake.

Generation by generation what had begun as a desire to explore family history became a full-scale fixation that I could not shake. One leaf had three hints, another had seven. This ancestor had four children, that one had fourteen. Names, dates, national origins, military service…it’s all in there.

My conversations this week sounded like this:

“My 12th great grandmother was the niece of Lady Jane Seymour, the third wife of Henry VII.” I gushed.

“I don’t care what you say, I’m not calling you ‘your highness’” was one reply.

“Technically, I think ‘your Ladyship’ is the proper term.” I corrected.

“Regardless…It’s. Not. Happening.”

“Still, it would have been nice to have been invited to William and Kate’s wedding.” I mused.

When I discovered one lineage that dated back to France in the first millennium, I spent the rest of the evening speaking with the best French accent I could fake. Or should I say, fahkay. Exclaiming the occasional ‘Ooh la la!’ and ‘Sacre Bleu!’ didn’t impress anyone, either.

My present day family has expressed concern over my growing addiction to the website by referring to it as ‘Crack-cestry.com,’ and the aforementioned youngest daughter cautioned me, “Don’t become obsessed with this.” I affirmed her quite matter-of-factly with, “Too late.”

Every discovery brought new questions. Each answer brought a new leaf waving to me. It was not a matter of not being able to stop, but rather that I didn’t want to. It was history I could relate to, because, well, I am related to it.

Thursday morning brought the realization that I may be in deeper than I thought; sitting in my bathrobe with ‘bed-head’, two hours before work, I had no clean clothes. Not simply work clothes, but any clothes, and I kind of didn’t care. Convinced that there wasn’t really a problem, I justified it because I was searching for my husband’s ancestors, too. He wasn’t swayed by that. Looking at me with loving sternness, he softly reminded me that working in my bathrobe was not an option that day.

Begrudgingly, I surrendered, and showered. While my freshly washed clothing was tumbling in the dryer, I pondered what my ancient kin would think about modern day life.  Surely, they would feel that my husband is deserving of knighthood. Although I haven’t found a royal connection in his genealogy yet, if I could have a little extra time searching, I just might…
On this day however, he has demonstrated that he is a patient man. He has also discovered that unplugging the Internet router will knock me offline and out of the family tree

Phil LeTourneau, an Archaeologist with the King County Historic Preservation Program, studies an artifact brought in for examination at last Saturday’s Highline Historical Society “Treasure Hunt” antiques appraisal, held at the Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center Gym in Burien.

Burke Museum Archaeologists Bob Kopperl and Laura Phillips are in the background.

Closeup of the artifact being examined.

People were invited to bring their treasures in and have them appraised.

“Among the artifacts brought in that day were arrowheads and other ancient stone tools, fossils, traditional Native American baskets and drums, as well as various carved figurines,” said Barbara McMichael of the society.

Photos Courtesy the Highline Historical Society (we’re members – join here).

The Highline Historical Society (we’re members) will be holding its annual “Treasure Hunt” antiques appraisal event on Saturday, April 16th from 10am – 4pm at the Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center Gym.

This year the day-long event is being paired with a brand-new offering – Artifact Identification.

A Certified Appraiser will assess antiques for a fee of $10 per item; but if you’re a Highline Historical Society member, you get one for free – just show your card. People bringing their treasures in are encouraged to bring a notepad, as their appraisals will be verbal. Limit four items per person.

The Artifact Identification portion of the program will be staffed by archaeologists from the Burke Museum and the King County Historic Preservation Program. This is the first time the Artifact ID program has taken place outside of the Burke Museum, and the Highline Historical Society is pleased to be offering this opportunity to Highline area residents. Experts will be on hand to identify cultural objects found in the region, from oddly shaped stones to interesting relics.

There will be no fee for this service, but there is a limit of three items per visitor. No appraisals will be given for the artifact portion of the program.

Admission and parking are free for the Antiques Appraisal/Artifact Identification event. The artifact identification portion of the program runs from 10 AM – 3 PM.

The Ruth Dykeman Children’s Center is located at 1033 SW 152nd Street in Burien.

For more information on the Highline Historical Society and its activities, visit www.highlinehistory.org.

“We’re thrilled to have found this photo, once thought to be lost forever,” said Chyna Downthepike, Executive Director. “One of our archivists found it while digging for a lost quarter that fell down some slats in the floor of an abandoned old home near Lake Burien. Before being turned into a Meth Lab, this house was owned by the cartoonist brother of Ollie Atkins, who worked as the official White House Photographer.”

Oddly, the caption in the photo was done differently, making this find even more historic – check it out:

by Sarah Fox

After spending a few years out of commission, the Southgate Roller Rink – a White Center Institution – will reopen its doors the weekend of April 7th, beginning a new chapter in a history that goes back nearly 80 years.

In 1937, White Centerites Ethel and ‘Pop’ Brown opened the doors of the Southgate Roller Rink on 16^th Ave Southwest. Formerly an athletic club and a dancehall, the new roller rink quickly gained a loyal and devoted following. The Browns were determined to make their rink a welcoming place for adults and kids alike, and over the decades “Seattle’s Friendly Rink” became a White Center institution. During the WWII years it was a well-known gathering place for enlisted men, and “Pop” Brown opened the rink every night with a flag salute. The rink hosted competitive skating, skating clubs, skating drill teams, and innumerable birthday parties across the decades. Read more local memories of the rink here.

In 2003 the Southgate Roller Rink became the home turf of the Rat City Rollergirls, an all-womens’ roller derby team founded here in White Center as part of the national revival of the competitive contact sport of roller derby. The Rollergirls became wildly popular, so much so they outgrew the Southgate rink and began hosting matches at Seattle’s Key Arena. Their roots in White Center and at the Southgate Rink remain a fundamental part of their team character though, as team co-founder Brandy Rettig told the Seattle PI in April of 2006. “It’s the place we chose to put our roots down. We could have been the Emerald City Rollergirls, but we wanted to be part of a community that reflected us — a little bit edgy, a little bit tough and rough around the edges. It was the perfect spot for us.”

After the Rollergirls moved on to bigger venues, it looked like the Southgate Roller Rink might finally be ending its nearly eight-decade run. For several years, the antique hardwood skating floor was covered up, and the rink served as an event center. As it turns out though, the Southgate Roller Rink was destined to live on. Enter Josh Rhoads, who purchased and undertook the renovation of the rink in 2011. In a few short weeks of hard work, Rhoads oversaw the restoration of the skaterink’s wooden floor, hung a disco ball, and let the community know that the “Friendly Rink” was back. He’s announced the grand reopening for April 7.

Rhoads has more than a passing interest in rollerskating; this friendly and unassuming young man has been called the greatest roller skater in the United States. Rhoads, who has competed in artistic roller skating all over the world, can do everything an ice-skater can do on a blade and an ice-rink, except he pulls off those graceful and athletic spins and leaps on eight wheels. He hopes someday his sport will gain the respect and notoriety it deserves; in the meantime, he’s the perfect person to oversee the reopening of the Southgate Roller Rink. There’s talk of a speed team, as well as rumors of a men’s roller derby team sponsored by White Center’s own Full Tilt Ice Cream. New generations of White Centerites will host their birthday parties here, and those with fond memories of the old days at Southate Roller Rink are dusting off their skates. Ethel and ‘Pop’ Brown would be proud.

According to its website, here’s the schedule:

***Schedule Effective April 7th, 2011***
Free Skate Rental if needed during all skate sessions

Tuesday
8:30pm-11:00pm Adult Night 18+ $6.00

Thursday
8:30pm-11:00pm Adult Night 18+ $6.00

Friday
7:30pm-11:00pm Teen Night $7.50

Saturday
1:00pm-4:30pm Family Skate $6.50
7:30pm-11:00pm All Ages Skate $7.50

Sunday
12:00pm-1:00pm Beginner Skate Class $10.00
(Includes 1:00-4:30 Family Skate following the class)
1:00pm-4:30pm Family Skate $6.50
7:30pm-10:00pm All Ages Derby Skate $6.00

More info:

• Southgaterollerrink.com
• Facebook Page